QOTD
"I think that if there was a magic wand, and say, okay, drop price, I'd do that. But there is no magic wand to wave right now."
- W talking about rising oil prices on May 12, 2008
Hey W. I got a magic wand for ya. You want to reduce oil/gas prices... how's this for a starter?
  1. Nukes - Create tax incentives and lower regulatory barriers for new nuclear plants in the US
  2. New drilling - Drill for new oil in Anwar and off the coast.
  3. New refineries - Build new oil refineries.
  4. Invent, conserve - Create tax incentives (not fucking mandates) for alternative energy and conservation... small cars, new construction, solar, whatever.
  5. Standardize gas - Standardize all the flavors of gas, so that we (re. Illinois) don't have 8 zillion kinds of gas that companies have to produce. If the feds can tell you to drive 55, why not regulate all the tooty-fruity flavors of gas that state governments currently demand?
This is mistake number 1 or 1a of W's presidency: energy independence. Iraq intelligence and poor marketing of the Iraq war is the other.

So, close your eyes and imagine... after the 9/11 attack, W says 1) we're gonna blow these f'ers up, and 2) we're going to become energy independent as a national security imperative. We'd still have $30 a barrel oil, and we wouldn't have our national security (re. our asses) hanging out there at the whim of Saudi Arabia or any other country.

I mean, gol dang, some problems are really tough to solve... health care, rising cost of education. These are items that have fundamental reasons (primarily supply and demand) for their prices rising faster than inflation. The rise in oil prices seems, in large part, self-inflicted and so easily avoidable.

Oh well. My understanding is that neither McCain nor Barry has any of this stuff on their plate.
fill er up... yow, bill

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